Loose-leaf binder



May 4, 1948 A. N. HMA 2,440,945

- LOOSE-LEAF BINDER Filed Feb. 24, 1944 INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

Patented May 4, 1948 The invention relates to loose leaf binders and more particularly to a. binder of the type having relatively movable plates, each having a number of arcuate posts, each post on'one plate complementing one on the other plate to form a continuous loop, upon which loops perforated sheets may be mounted and have free sliding movement from adjacent one binder cover to adjacent the other such cover. 7

I have heretofore developed and produced binders of the type above referred 'to, using two plates pivoted together at one end and having arcuate posts which by pivotal movement of the plates in one direction are brought to a position to form a series of substantially continuous closed loops, the plates and loops being locked in the closed position by means carried by the free end of one plate cooperating with means on the free end of the other plate.

While binders of this type have been used in large numbers, when the loops of the binder were open as a result of pivotal movement of the plates and the posts carried thereby, there was a progressively narrowing width of the gap between the ends Of the posts from the free ends of the plates towards the pivotal connec-' tion between them, making the mounting and removal of sheets upon and from the posts difficult and awkward. At times the posts, when they were being closed, had a tendency to interfere in a manner to prevent a proper meeting and mating of the complementary posts forming loops adjacent the point of pivotal connection between the two plates due to the arc of movement of the movable plate. This was particularly true if-there was any material play about the pivot. Even if the ends of the posts of each pair were properly engaged in abutting relation one with the other, stresses transversely and longitudinally of the plates were developed tending to throw the two posts of some of. the loops out of alinement sufliciently to interfere with a free run of a sheet from one post to the complementary post. This condition resulted in deflection of some of the posts relative to others and in time, due to such distortion such posts would take a permanent set requiring the use of openings in the sheets to compensate for slight variation in the spacing of the loops towards the pivoted ends of the plates.

One plate in such binders is customarily secured, by riveting, to the back board of a book and when the binder is opened, the leaves upon the posts carried by the movable plate are ex-' tended at an oblique angle to the fixedplate,

. ()FFICE the adjacent back board and the leaves or sheets upon the postsof said fixed plate so as to project beyond the edge of the cover of the book, and make mounting and removal of sheets upon the posts of the movable plate awkward beyond that resulting from the progressively narrower structed that when the two plates carrying comgap between the ends of the posts upon the plates towards the pivotal connection between said plates.

The binder of my present invention is so conplementary arcuate posts, are actuated to open the binder; a gap is formed between the ends of the posts of uniform width as to all posts, this gap being sufficiently wide to permit equally free access ,to every post in mounting sheets thereon or removing them therefrom. This results from a Structure in which one plate is slidably mounted upon the other and retained and guided in its movement thereonin a manner to permit it and its posts to have only a. right line movement in relation to the other plate and its posts-and to limit the quantity of such movement to that required to space the ends of all posts carried thereby an equal distance from they ends of the complementary posts carried by the other plate, or to produce a gap of substantially uniform width between the ends of all of the posts on one plate and those on the other plate.

At the opposite ends ofthe plates are manually operative mechanisms capable, during the final closing of the binder, of simultaneously drawing'the ends of all complementary posts together and holding them and the plates oarrying same against relative movement unless said locking mechanisms are released.

In addition to the means for controlling and limiting the right line movement of the movable plate and its posts, I provide the fixed plate with a plurality of tongues. spaced therefrom sufficiently to overlay the movable plate and prevent any appreciable lifting thereof. Pref erably the movable plate is provided with raised stifiening. ridges or ribs at least one of which is engageable withthese tonguesboth when the binder loops. are. opened and when they are closed. The tongues may be of a length to engage all ribs on the movable plate when the binder loops are closed so as to ensure the maximum "immobility of the plates and posts while the binder is in use. V

The right line movement of the movable plate and its posts inlrelation to the fixed plate and its posts, ensuresa direct, accurate engagement recessed as shown in dotted lines at 30, providing. tongues 3i and 32, the tongue 3| being adapted edge thereof. Two such locking plates aroused,-

one adjacent each end of said plate It. Said plate 34 is pivoted to the tongue 32 at 35. The free end of the plate 34 has a looped or hooked end 35. said plate being adapted to pass through a slot 38 in the bend of the plate l6 forming the channel 29 so that said looped or hooked end can pass and engage the turned portion of the plate lil forming said channel 29. The locking plate 34 has an upwardly projected finger piece 31, by means of which it can be turned upon the pivot 35 to permit or to prevent sliding of the plate it; to open or to close the loops formed by the posts i l and I8. a

The various parts of the binder may be formed from sheet metal or sheet plastics, or may be molded of plastic material. When sheetkmetal is used, a desired rigidity in the posts l4 and 18 may be secured by folding the side edges of the sheet metal in each post towards and upon the intermediate central portion, as shown at: 39, Fig. 4, and at the bend of the metal at the juncture of the post with the plate carrying same, the edges of the turned portions may be outwardly flared as at i l, towards the plate to produce a substantially triangular area of a single thickness of metal. An indented portion i! may be used to strengthen the post about the angle between the base of the post and the plate, which indentation extends into the adjacent portion of the plate.

The end of one of the posts forming a loop may be recessed as shown at 42 while the end of the complementary post co-operating therewith may have a projecting tongue 43 adapted to enter said recess to provide an overlap of the ends of the posts at the seam between their ends.

I have herein referred to the plate It] as being a fixed plate and the plate it as being a movable plate. The words fixed and movable are used merely as a term of distinction, since while ordinarily only the plate I B has a right line movement, it is possible under some conditions to open and close the binder loops by simultaneous, opposite movement of both plates and I6, or even by movement of the plate It alone. This occurs when the loops are opened by pulling upon sheets collated upon the posts It and i8.

The operation of the herein described loose leaf binder is substantially as follows:

When it is desired to mount sheets in the binder, the locking plates 25 are turned upon the pivots 28 to disengage the looped end 26 thereon from the end flanges 59-20, 2l22, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, or the looped end 36 from the plate Ill at the. channel 29 as shown in Fig. 5. This permits a free sliding movement of the movable plate 13 upon and transversely of the fixed plate It], the end flanges iQ-Zll and 2l-22, or the channels 29, limiting this to a right line movement. Hence the ends of the posts move in a straight line away from their complementary posts (is and I l) and there never is any such loss of alinement of such ends as will interfere with repeated, accurate engagements of such post ends during succeeding openingsand closings of the loops formed by such posts.

The movement of theplate lfi'is limited by engagement of one end of the slot 24 with the stop pin 23, Figs. rm 3, or of the shoulder 3| withthe pin 33, Fig. 5. During such movement, the plate It is in continuous engagement with the various tongues l5 which in addition to preventing upward or downward movement of the.

plate 16, holds papers collated upon the posts 14 outof engagement with the movable plate.

With the sliding of the plate l6 as described, the ends of all complementary posts l4 and I 8 areseparated, leaving a gap, Fig. 3, between the ends offsuch posts. The right linemovement of the plate 46 ensures a gap or uniform width as to all post ends, Fig. 2 This ensures ample space between the ends of all complementary posts,

for the insertion of one or a number of sheets therebetween and'greatly facilitates the mounting, or the removal of sheets upon or from the posts upon either plate It] or 16.

The facility with which sheets may be collated in a book haw'ng a binder embodying the invention, permits great economy in the production of such books, particularly when they are produced in large numbers in a binderyj Such binders are largely used in books wherein additional or replacement sheets or leaves are required to be placed by the user in the binder from time to time, as in catalogues, sample books, instruction sheets and the like.

After the required number of sheets has been mounted on either or both posts I i-l8, it is \merely necessary to slide the movable plate I6 in a right line across the fixed plate I0 until the free ends of all posts l8 simultaneously abut against the free ends of all posts 14. To keep the loops formed by complementary posts closed, it is merely necessary to swing the locking plates 25 or 34 about their pivots until the looped or hooked ends 26 or 36 engage the end flanges 19- 20, on the rear edge of the plate ID, or about the channel portion 29. This movement of said pivotal locking plates draws the free ends of the posts l8 and I4 tightly together. If the posts flex slightly during this action, the amount of fiexure will be so slight as not to be appreciable.

So long as the locking mechanism is set as described, the movable plate I6 is held against any sliding movement on the fixed plate In and any separation of the ends of the posts forming each loop upon a horizontal plane either transversely or longitudinally of the plates l0 and I6 is prevented. Furthermore, any separation of the ends of the posts vertically is prevented by the tongues l5 and the ribs 11 on the plate l6, since with the closing movement of the posts to form the loops, the plate I6 is forced and held against the plate ID by the action of the ribs l1 and the tongues IS. The right line movement of the plate l6 results in the simultaneous engagement of said ribs with all tongues l5 and the continued engagement of these parts avoids an possibility of the ends of the posts getting out of vertical alinement during movement of the plate It,

The essential characteristics of a binder embodying the invention are the two plates having arcuate posts as described which plates have a limited relative sliding movement in a right line to ensure accurate engagement of the ends of co-operating posts to close the binder and to provide a gap of uniform width between all posts upon one plate and those upon the other plate, when opening the binder; in conjunction with 2" means to bievei'xt mate movementiiehmme in even slight separation 0t the'ehds of theposts whilethe binder is ciosed.

It is not my intention to limit the imrenthm to the material used in the various parts of the binder, nor to the particular form of. theseparts shown in the drawing, it beingapparent that such may' be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. I

Having described the invention, what I claimand desire to have protected by Letters-Patent 1S:

A loose leaf binder comprising two plates, one movable with respect tothe othersoIeIy by manual-action applied directly thereto, one of said plates being a fixed piste. and havinga plurality of siiaeed aronate posts projecting rigidly u-p-' waidly from oneed ge andtransversely ofsnid piste and an upwardly projeeteefienge in web end of said plate, and the other of said plates" being slidably mounted upon said fixed plate within limits and having a Iike number of comple'mentary arcnate posts projecting rigidly upwardiy from one edge and transversely Of said plate towards the posts upon said fixed plate and adapted solely withinwardi right line movement of said slidable plate to have their ends engaged with the ends of the posts upon saictfixed plate to form a series of closed loops, said engagement occurring only at the inward limit of sliding motion, an upwardly projected flange at each 'end of said slidable plate having a sliding fit with the onsicsmceopiete, e slot-amim connection betweentheflanges at each end 01* said plates ATTO' N. HANNA.

REFERENfJES CITED following references are of record inthe Vented.

me of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 294,682 Richards July 11, 1905 -8;55,-285 Cramp May 28, 1907 135713905 "Hermann Feb. 2-, 1926 1,670,410 Hermann May 22, 1928 1,787,755 Miller Jan, 8, 1931 1,822,669 Schade Sept. 8, 1931 1 ,954,494 Schade Apr, 10, 1934 2,193,347 Schade Mar. 12, 1940 2,209,284 Schad'e July 23, 1940 2,211,546 Ra-bmof -1 Aug. 13, 1940 2,212,380 Steele Aug. 20', 1940 2,251,878 Hanna Aug. 5, 1941 2,270,045 Goldsmith Jan. 13, 1942 

